Grammar : Nouns

A man's errors are his portals of discovery.

Hello dear readers : )

Welcome to this blog . First and foremost , before I proceed with the knowledge and all , let me introduce myself . Hello , I am Nurul Diyanah Khalid and this is my very own educational blog . The objective of this blog is to rpovide my readers with useful tips and notes in order to help you with English Language . I will try my best to provide good notes here . Have fun reading : )

So , in the first entry , I am going to provide notes of Nouns . I hope this will benefit my readers .

So , what is 'Nouns'? Nouns are commonly thought of as "naming" words, and specifically as the names of "people, places, or things". Nouns such as John, London, and computer certainly fit this description, but the class of nouns is much broader than this. Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts such as birth, happiness, evolution, technology, management, imagination, revenge, politics, hope, cookery, sport, literacy....   

Because of this enormous diversity of reference, it is not very useful to study nouns solely in terms of their meaning. It is much more fruitful to consider them from the point of view of their formal characteristics.  

CHARACTERISTICS OF NOUNS : Common and Proper Nouns

A)Many nouns can be recognised by their endings. Typical noun endings include:  

-er/-or	actor, painter, plumber, writer
-ism	criticism, egotism, magnetism, vandalism
-ist	artist, capitalist, journalist, scientist
-ment	arrangement, development, establishment, government
-tion	foundation, organisation, recognition, supposition

  

B)Most nouns have distinctive SINGULAR and PLURAL forms. The plural of regular nouns is formed by adding -s to the singular:    

Singular	Plural
car	cars
dog	dogs
house	houses

  

C)However, there are many irregular nouns which do not form the plural in this way:  

Singular	Plural
man	men
child	children
sheep	sheep

  

D)The distinction between singular and plural is known as NUMBER CONTRAST.  

We can recognise many nouns because they often have the, a, or an in front of them:  
  

the car  
an artist  
a review

These words are called determiners, which is the next word class we will look at.  

E)Nouns may take an -'s ("apostrophe s") or GENITIVE MARKER to indicate possession:  
  

the boy's pen  
my girlfriend's brother  
John's house

F)If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form:  
  

the boys' pens  
the spiders' webs  
the Browns' house

G)The genitive marker should not be confused with the 's form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good boy (= John is a good boy).  

Nouns often co-occur without a genitive marker between them:  
                      rally car  
                     table top  
                    University entrance examination

A)Nouns which name specific people or places are known as PROPER NOUNS.  
 

John  
Mary  
London  
France

B)Many names consist of more than one word:  
  

John Wesley  
Queen Mary  
Atlantic Ocean  
Buckingham Palace

C)Proper nouns may also refer to times or to dates in the calendar:  
  

 January, February, Monday, Tuesday, Christmas, Thanksgiving

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

A) Most nouns have singular and plural forms. They are countable nouns.

e.g. One letter, two letters

• There is a letter on the table for you. (singular)
• There are letters on the table for you. (plural)

B) Some nouns only have one form. They are uncountable nouns.

e.g. Money

• There is no money in my bank account.
• There is a lot of money in my bank account.

C) Many uncountable nouns refer to substances:

e.g. Chocolate, water, coffee, milk, sugar, salt, cheese, bread, rice, wood, glass, plastic, soap, toothpaste.

• The milk is sour - let's make cheese.

D) Many uncountable nouns refer to abstract ideas or emotions.

e.g. love, sadness, happiness, education, knowledge, and grammar.

• Money can't buy love.

E) You can use a/an with singular countable nouns.

e.g. an umbrella, a wheel, a mistake.

• It's raining so I need an umbrella.

F) You can use plural countable nouns alone.

e.g. apples, bees, clouds.

• There are clouds in the sky today.

G) You can't use an article with an uncountable noun.

e.g. time, sand, electricity.

• We need electricity to use our heater.

So I am done with the notes . In order to test your understanding , I think I am going to provide you some useful questions . Good luck in trying to answer them correctly :)

Identify and underline the Common Nouns in the following sentences.

§  1. We arrived early at the station.

2. There are different species of fish.

3. The man was trying to steal his car.

4. They have gone to the zoo.

5. The baby is crying.

6. My mother is in the kitchen.

7. He threw some nuts to the monkeys.

8. The children are playing in the field.

9. That temple was built before I was born.

10. He has bought a new car.

Use capital letters for Proper Nouns in the following sentences.

§  1. paris is the capital of france.

2. william shakespeare is a famous english author.

3. ‘war and peace' was written by leo tolstoy.

4. john's two dogs are named rover and boxer.

5. suez canal joins the red sea and the mediterranean sea.

Complete each sentence by choosing the correct word and underline it.

§  1. There is so (many, much) smoke coming out of the chimney.

2. There are (plenty of, a large amount of) fish in the pond.

3. (A little, A few) minutes is all it takes for him to shave.

4. The postman put (a great deal of, a lot of) letters into the bag.

5. He threw (a little, some) nuts to the monkeys.

THANKS FOR READING : )